Wash Post on Brown cartoon

The Washington Post has an article on Dave Brown’s outrageous cartoon of Ariel Sharon eating Palestinian babies, and the growth of anti-Semitism in Europe:

Many British Jews reacted with revulsion, accusing Brown and the newspaper of anti-Semitism. Some said the drawing echoed the virulent Jew-hatred of cartoons that appeared in Nazi publications such as Der Stuermer before and during World War II, while the Israeli Embassy here contended it perpetuated the ancient “blood libel” that Jews prey on non-Jewish children.

But Brown and the Independent have stood their ground, insisting that the drawing represented fair criticism of a head of government. They claimed vindication after the state-run Press Complaints Commission dismissed a formal complaint from Sharon and the embassy, and again, more recently, when the illustration won the annual award for best drawing from the Political Cartoon Society.

Still, the cartoon remains at the center of a simmering debate in Britain and throughout Europe over the distinctions between anti-Sharon, anti-Israel and anti-Semitic views.

After mentioning the role of HonestReporting and others who encouraged protest of the Brown cartoon, Brown himself chimes in:

“To me it was an obvious case of being a manufactured outrage,” he said. “I’ve no doubt a large number of people willfully misinterpreted the cartoon.”